The Research Fellow in Planetary Protection will work in close cooperation with other staff of the Independent Safety Office in the Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality at ESTEC in Noordwijk (NL).

This fellowship aims to advance the development of a risk-informed decision culture at ESA and application of probabilistic frameworks in the planetary protection domain. The overall goal is to support ESA planetary protection function on its effort to modernise current approaches with the use of new statistical models to assess biological and chemical contamination risks.

The Research Fellow in Planetary Protection primary role is to develop mathematical frameworks to be used for modelling the probability to 1) transfer harmful contamination to solar system bodies for robotic or crewed missions (or a combination of both); 2) transfer harmful contamination from outer space to Earth.

As an internal researcher, the candidate will perform research activities exploring new ways or expanding the scope of existing studies to promote the use of risk-informed decision frameworks, prediction models, AI applied to planetary protection.

About you
You should have recently completed, or be close to completion of a PhD in a related technical or scientific discipline. Preference  will  be  given  to applications submitted by candidates within  five  years of receiving their PhD. In particular for this position, the following is required:

PhD in data or computer science, machine learning, AI, statistics, mathematics, biophysics, bioinformatics.

Need more details?
Everything you need to know for you application can be found here.

Application deadline is April 3rd 2026 at 23:59 CET.